Duke of Windsor - reads his abdication speech

[bcpii]

Contrasts: Edward VIII & Edward, Duke of Kent (E.VIII’s great grandfather ).

E. DofK separated from his love, M. St. Laurent, to marry and have a child (Q. Victoria ).

E.VIII, abdicated the English throne to marry his love, Wallis Simpson.

E. DoK restored the Gibraltar Colony in 1803, but was criticized.

E. VII was criticized for abdication, but perhaps he intended to deceive Hitler and position himself to moderate harsh subjugation of England if America remained neutral, and Germany won?

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden They weren't then though.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden  Richard, that is a very naive comment. The Jews obeyed the laws - didn't do them much good.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden Would have been no need for the death penalty - we would have all been worked to death or in Concentration camps.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden And let Hitler rule us? No way. That wouldn't have been much fun.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden That would have meant Hilter over-running us too. No thanks.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden Are you American or British? I'm British and I don't think we had a choice. America? They had to come and rescue us eventually! Late - but thanks.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden  Oh and before I forget - they visited Germany, almost on the eve of WW2, ostensibly to look at a housing project. Not a very patriotic or sensible thing to do!

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden Maybe not, but they could have spent their time in a more productive way, instead of worrying about her whether the Duchess should have an HRH or not! Also, there was some kind of unpleasant scandal in the Bahamas while they were there. During all of their years of exile they never thought to start a charity or do anything for anybody else - they just went back and forth from Paris to New York socialising and worrying about how grand their homes were.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden I believe he said it to the person who was showing him around. I have read a couple of biographies of him and from what I can deduce, he would not have made a good King. After his abdication and during WW2 he was living in the West Indies. While his brother, King George VI was busy trying to keep the up morale in the UK he and the Duchess of Windsor were busy harassing the King about her not having the title of Her Royal Highness!

[TheAnn2shoes]

@RichardElden Because when he visited Wales he already knew that if he was not to be allowed to marry Mrs. Simpson he would abdicate.

[kingnick104]

throne of the united kingdom not england

[tonytonytonyargh]

What was the possible context of this late re-recording? How odd. Was it part of a news interview? of a report? How could it have helped his position, then, in the 1960's?

[JuanMacready]

@tonytonytonyargh It was for American TV in 1965. The Duke was paid a huge amount of money.

[popazz1]

How utterly poignant to witness the much older Duke recite his own abdication speech! He was left to more or less wander aimlessly after his brother became king,and all for the love of a woman! Had she not been a double divorcee and an American,dare I say,and apologies to Americans,no doubt Baldwin,as Prime Minister,would have agreed to the Duke marrying her and remaining king.How the course of royal history would have been so different!

[baraxor]

@popazz1

"Had she not been a double divorcee..." Even today, with society having a far more tolerant view of divorce, if someone with Wallis Simpson's history was seen as about to become the next Queen Consort of the UK (i.e. a night-clubbing social-climbing golddigger with two divorces, with little or no apparent desire to perform public service, and likely abandoning the king for affairs of her own), there would be an unholy scandal that would shake the monarchy.

[popazz1]

@baraxor ,

Lol,not quite convinced that too much has changed,within the 'royal' family since Wallis's days!

[pioszef]

they love hitler , they whas nacjonalist,

[RICHARDTOMLEY10WHARF]

fascist pig where would we have been if this moron got any influence during the war as monarch ,good job he was sent off to the bahamas

[JuanMacready]

@RICHARDTOMLEY10WHARF Edward VIII was the only decent monarch in modern times. We would ahve been much better off joing forces with Germany and Italy and then confronting the real danger, which was Communism.

[RICHARDTOMLEY10WHARF]

@JuanMacready well this is your opinion ,which i dont really agree but i cannot debate at present as i feel quite unwell ,but i still answer your comment

[JuanMacready]

Why do you say that? George VI and Elizabeth II are just worthless, powerless cunts. Edward VIII would have been far better.

[walford70]

Thank goodness Edward VIII abdicated so that George VI was on the throne for WWII. Edward was not equipped with the will or the want to be the Constitutional Monarch in a time of crisis, a role which George VI filled brilliantly. Then, as it it follows we would have been deprived of our own wonderful Queen until the death of Edward in 1972 and would not be anticipating for the incredible achievement and celebration of a Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

[JuanMacready]

A constitutional monarchy is a load of shit. I'm glad the worthless loser George VI died of lung cancer at only 56.

[brandnewyork48]

@JuanMacready how can anybody hold such hatred for somebody they have never met?

[JuanMacready]

@brandnewyork48 He should have let his brother's wife have the HRH.

[brandnewyork48]

@JuanMacready not if she wasn't the next in line blood wise

[brianclough]

for all his faults, Edward did the noble thing in pursuing his love for the woman of his dreams. In some ways, the Windsor Family is cursed in marriage today for the shabby treatment they gave him and Wallis. Even if she wasn't to be HRH in life, she should have been made 1 in death, for she stayed with him all the way, unlike her other husbands.

[JuanMacready]

It is disputed whether he was forced out or whether he never wanted to be king in the first place.

[Jane1620]

He married Wallis,because she knew too much about him and could have ruined him.She was not pretty and had been divorced twice.

[ratty126]

Dukes Of Windsor live bei "Rock in Caputh" am 14 und 15 Mai. Mit dabei sind für 15,- euro auch: Mutarbor, Emil Bulls, Bakkushan, Gods of Blitz, One fine Day und viele mehr. Rock in Caputh direkt bei Berlin.

[twilitfox]

Wasn't Edward VIII suspected of having Nazi sympathies? Just imagine a British sovereign with Nazi leanings during World War II! Thank God he abdicated!

[FrankClanton]

We should have joined forces with Hitler and invaded Russia.

[deskpot1]

If you talk about the present royal family being Germen then you might as well talk about them being Roman, lol. Its intresting that they choose for the sake of the people to change the name to windsor three generations ago. I wish people would talk fact !!

[honeyhued08]

Interesting...Alot of the kings of England were womanizing men who had their wives hung, burned and decapitated..instead he fell in love and for that was abdicated. No surprise the head of the country is a woman.

[deskpot1]

I think your talking about Henry the 8th, all the Richards, Edwards Gothenburgs etc were quiet loyal. None more so then two of note, Prince Philip and Prince Albert. God rest them

[ROMPERSTOMPER21]

yeh good job. fuckin nazi lover!!!! wasnt even fuckin english

[Edmund24]

Thank goodness he abdicated. George VI & Queen Elizabeth did a wonderful job. Much better than he could ever have done. George V knew he wasn't cut out for it too!

[PeterFirthFan]

The monarch is just an irrelevance.

[wlhardy]

I think QEII would have ended up being Queen anyway even if her uncle didn't abdicate. I don't think Edward VII would have ever married if it wasn't for Mrs. Simpson, after his death (1972) the next in line would have been his brother, then his brother's daughter (Elizabeth). So I think either way Elizabeth would have ended up Queen. Within the last few decades, with all the scandals & divorces in the House of Windsor, Edward VII's behavior seems minor.

[zzzbbbooo]

I don't know why the Duke felt it necessary to re-record his abdication speech as shown here. He left the throne by choice in 1936. Why re-hash it all decades later?

[PeterFirthFan]

He was forced out.

[zzzbbbooo]

He was forced out because he wanted to make his own rules - in the woman he married and in the type of king he wanted to be. Again, why re-hash it all years later? Pointless.

[PeterFirthFan]

Edward VIII wasn't prepared to be a constitutional monarch like his father, he had made it known that he would try to intervene in politics if he felt it was in the best interests of the country.

[zzzbbbooo]

Indeed. You list an extremely valid reason as to why it was the best thing for Britain and the Commonwealth that he went, whether willingly or otherwise.

[PeterFirthFan]

It was the Empire then. Edward VIII would certainly have been far better than his two successors.

[bjnboy]

A story of true love.

Wallis always kept a framed note he gave her on her dressing table. The touching lines read:

"My friend. To live alone with thee, methinks were better to own than a crown, a sceptre and a throne."

[Ohyewildthong]

Jolly good show that he left. He nearly destroyed the monarchy. It was only because of his fantastic brother that the monarchy was saved. As it is said, the monarch has the divine right to rule, they are chosen by God. George VI was indeed chosen by God.

[blenhei]

He was indeed. He was the best King a Nation in war can have.

[Ohyewildthong]

and in peace time as well. George was a fantastic king in both times. It was a shame his life was cut short!

[haraszo123p]

Somebody know where i can found text of this speech?

[Shablabar]

As unfortunate as it was that he felt it necessary to abdicate, I'm glad; we may not have been blessed with our current Queen had he married and had children of his own.

[YogaNate79]

Not many people know this, but the United Kingdom's Royal Family is partly responsible for Nazi Germany's Holocaust from 1933-1945. A grandson of Victoria I, Charles-Edward was Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in fascist Germany who also ran the German Red Cross, the organization that made German doctors euthanize thousands of sick and dying people under Hitler's plan of mass extermination. Likewise, Victoria's great-great grandson, Edward VIII was an ally of Hitler and Wallis Simpson was a Nazi spy.

[LilUsagiChan]

No, she wasn't a Nazi spy. But she was a nasty piece of work.

[YogaNate79]

To LilUsagiChan: Wallis Simpson was indeed a Nazi spy.

[LilUsagiChan]

not really defending her, not at all. I would just like to know what the evidence is. They both met with him, but i've never heard of her being a spy. Is there evidence or only theories?

[YogaNate79]

Let's take a look at the facts. When the war broke out, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain deported the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to the Bahamas where Edward become the Governor-Heneral. Britain wanted the Duke and Duchess far away from Europe as possible due to their loyalties to Adolf Hitler. Wallis Simpson herself has publicly admitted that she knew about Hitler's plan to invade England years before the Battle of Britain even began.

[carsane]

If these cases were so, they would be peculiar cases, but nothing can be deduced from them to blame the royal family...

[ultraplus1]

Edward, the sm queen, abdicated because Wallis was the closest thing to a real man he could ever find.

[456Justinian]

Why Edward VIII became King I will never know.His father did not want him to be King and he really was an inept leader who in truth was nothing more and nothing less then a royal gigolo.

[davidbird1987]

i think that he did his duty he did not want to be king

[goidly]

Lovely. Thank you ;)

[erfica]

After this, it would seem that the Duke was a traitor. Even we Americans used to hang them.

[sacheverelle]

God, what a total wuss.

[luevanoalx]

he adbicated cause he knew GALVATRON would show up and kill him....

[darthexylus]

Coz Galvatron would kill him? I always thought it was coz of his smurf fetish. I heard he was into sum nasty shit

[ghbg00107]

Speaking as a British subject the fact that Wallis Simpson being an American citizen alone did not and certainly would not preclude her from becoming queen. Due to the revolutionary war and the newborn United States of America declaring itself a republic this would pose a constitutional problem for Americans. An American consort would have to swear allegiance to their consort: The king or queen; over above any other consideration.

[nilbud]

That's called marriage douchebag, look it up.

[moondust944]

It was not only that Wallis Simpson was a twice divorced Amercian woman that was against her but she was also a Catholic. As the monarch is the Head of the Church of England, by statute he cannot be King if married to a Catholic.

This was also a problem with Charles and Camilla getting married and the reason why she, by law should not be Queen. No doubt they will try to change the law when it is Charles's turn!

[JeremyGafford]

the fact that she was a woman with 2 living ex husbands was a hugh reason that she was deemed unfit to become queen consort.

[nilbud]

Catholics don't divorce.

[mindspring57]

No, they get "annulments," otherwise known as the "Catholic divorce."

[jaquibelle]

I should be known, that Edward and Wallace were Nazi sympathizers, and this was well known. Had they become the King and Queen, the second world war could have turned out very differently. Yes, they Royal family did not want a several times divorced American woman in the family. But considering the alternative, I'm glad he abdicated.

[ERRIN2000]

The Real Reason way Edward had to abdicat the thron was the fact that Wallis Simpson was not just a divorcee it was the fact that she was an American and the royal Family Didn't Want a American woman to be their Queen.

[jonwp]

With all the accepted scandals and divorces in the royal family today it makes Wallis and Edward look like angels in comparision.

[daycan1]

@jonwp they were nazi sympathizers and vile racists. it was the best thing for britain.

[JuanMacready]

@daycan1 Nope. Edward VIII was the greatest king Britain ever had.

[TheAnn2shoes]

@JuanMacready Sorry but that is complete rubbish. For a start, he was only King for 11 months so how could one tell? Did you know that not long after he became King it was deemed necessary NOT to let him see all government documents, for fear of his careless nature of leaving them around for any old person to read. Also he told Welsh miners that 'something would be done for them' when he had no intention whatsoever of helping them - and so on and so on.

[xurich]

Excellent video, thanks for posting!

[dickinsonstarkey]

As an avid Monarchist this was a complete joy to listen to and mull over. How we have changed up to now in 2007. Poor man whose peer pressures forced Him from our Throne.God Save our Queen.

[nilbud]

Death to the whore and all the parasites. You sickening lickspittle.

[Billbailey1]

This was wonderful--I always wanted to hear his voice.

[Lava1964]

Wow. Great video.

[thegreatestview7]

wow, when was this taken??